Quantitative Buffy Coat (QBC) analysis is routinely performed in clinical laboratories for the evaluation of whole blood. QBC analysis techniques generally employ centrifugation of capillary tubes containing anticoagulated whole blood, to separate the blood into six distinct layers: (1) packed red cells, (2) reticulocytes, (3) granulocytes, (4) lymphocytes/monocytes, (5) platelets, and (6) plasma. Based on examination of the tube, the length or height of essentially each layer is determined and converted into a cell count, thus allowing quantitative measurement of each layer. The length can be measured with a manual reading device, i.e., a magnification eyepiece and a manual pointing device, or photometrically by an automated optical scanning device that finds the layers by measuring light transmittance and fluorescence along the length of the tube. A series of commonly used QBC instruments are manufactured by Becton-Dickinson and Company of Franklin Lakes, N.J.
Since the buffy coat layers are very small, the buffy coat is often expanded in the tube for more accurate visual or optical measurement by placing a plastic cylinder, or float, into the tube. The float has a density which is less than that of red blood cells (1.090 g/ml) and greater than that of plasma (1.028 g/ml) and occupies nearly all of the cross-sectional area of the tube. The volume-occupying float, therefore, generally rests on the packed red blood cell layer and greatly expands the axial length of the buffy coat layers in the tube for analysis.
There exists a need in the art for an improved sample tube and float system and method for separating blood and/or identifying circulating cancer and/or other rare cells, organisms or particulates or objects (i.e., stem cells, cell fragments, virally-infected cells, trypanosomes, etc.) in the buffy coat or other layers in a blood sample. However, the number of cells expected to be typically present in the buffy coat is very low relative to the volume of blood, for example, in the range of about 1-100 cells per millimeter of blood, thus making the measurement difficult, particularly with the very small sample sizes employed with the conventional QBC capillary tubes and floats.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved blood separation assembly and method that overcome the above-referenced problems and others.